


Once Upon A December

by MiddleofNowhere92



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Modern Era, Thriller
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:34:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28143204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiddleofNowhere92/pseuds/MiddleofNowhere92
Summary: Suki’s nail tapped the girl in the photo, “Ty Lee Ping, 21, junior at BSSU.”I didn’t have to look up to hear the tears as her voice wobbled, “She’s always on time. Always.” She took a deep breath, “She called me when she was leaving the mall today. Our call got interrupted.” Another exhale, “I think something happened to her.”*****************Ty Lee goes missing. Chief of Police Zuko and the rest of the Gaang have to find her. Will they get to her before it's too late?
Relationships: Ty Lee & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

It was 11pm, way past closing time, but I sat at my desk answering emails I hadn’t gotten to during the day. I heard a clanging coming from the front of the building. For a minute, I thought it was that homeless guy that was always screaming about cabbages, but the ruckus continued. I briskly walked to the front door to see two girls banging on it. The taller girls’ green eyes lit up. I could hear her shouting, “Officer, please! We need help!” 

I unlocked the door and two college age girls stumbled in. The taller girl continued, “Officer our friend is missing. We need help.” I ushered them into one of the conference rooms. I asked, “Can I get you guys some water, a coke?” The taller girl slammed her hands down on the table. She yelled, “Our friend is missing! Can you please listen to us?”

I put my hands up in mock surrender. God, I wish Sokka was here. He was so much better with calming people. I pulled out my notebook and a pen. I flipped to an open page and spoke, “Alright, why don’t you both tell me your name, how old you are.” The taller girl huffed obviously annoyed, “Suki Waters, I’m 22 a senior at BSSU.” The shorter girl piped up, “I’m Meng Sand, 19, sophomore at BSSU.”

I nodded scribbling along as they spoke. I questioned, “OK so tell me about your friend.” The taller girl, Suki, pulled something out of her backpack. She laid it on the table and revealed that they were pictures, pictures of a very pretty college girl. Suki’s nail tapped the girl in the photo, “Ty Lee Ping, 21, junior at BSSU.” 

I didn’t have to look up to hear the tears as her voice wobbled, “She’s always on time.  _ Always _ .” She took a deep breath, “She called me when she was leaving the mall today. Our call got interrupted.” Another exhale, “I think something happened to her.”

I spoke up, “Tell me exactly what happened during the phone call.” Suki let out a shaky breath, “She called me around 5pm. She was leaving her job at the mall. She had done some Christmas shopping and she was getting ready to go to her next job.”

I raised an eyebrow, “She was in college and working two jobs?” They both nodded. Suki continued, “Her second job was just a couple hours a week at that touristy farm near the highway.” The younger girl, Meng, chimed in, “She’s also the treasurer for our sorority, co-captain on the cheer squad, volunteers with Habitat for Humanity…Did I forget anything else Suk?” The older girl dismissed it, “Probably, but that’s not important, what is important is that our friend is missing.” Suki glared and pointed at me, “You need to find her.”

I looked at the clock behind the girls and questioned, “So she’s been missing for about six hours?” Suki answered, “Yes, and I know you don’t count people as missing for like 24 hours, but..” I put my hand up to stop her and spoke, “Look, I’ll put an APB out for her car ok? Maybe her phone just died. Do you have a description of her vehicle?” 

Suki sifted through the pictures and pulled one of the girl, Ty Lee. She was sitting with pink sunglasses on inside of a pink and white Jeep. Geez, this girl was like Barbie come to life. I heard a rustling and Suki put a form in front of me. She spoke, “All the girls that park at the house are required to register their cars.” I skimmed through the form and saw the make, model and license plate number for the Jeep were listed. I nodded, “Give me some time to put the APB out. You ladies are welcome to wait here.” 

I got back to my office and sent the APB to dispatch. Hopefully this was just a college girl whose phone was dead or maybe she was already back at the sorority house and Suki didn’t know. I looked at who was working nights and called Aang. He cheerily answered, “Hey Chief Hotman! What’s up?”

I rubbed my forehead as I spoke, “Aang, drive by the mall and see if you find a white and pink jeep in the parking lot.” Aang’s voice rang out, “10-4 Chief!” I rolled my eyes and hung up. I went to our break room and got some water bottles for the girls and put a pot of coffee on for myself. 

I cracked my neck as I waited for my pot. I poured my cup and then carried the drinks into the conference room. I set everything down. Meng was curled up on a loveseat in the corner of the room scrolling through her phone. Suki was drumming her fingers impatiently on the table. My phone started ringing. I glanced down and saw that it was Aang. I stepped into the hallway and answered the call. 

Aang didn’t even give me the chance to answer. He just started, “Boss, car’s here. No sign of anyone around. The mall’s closed. Just did a check around the car. Found an Iphone in a cat case, I think? Also, there’s like a gun holster on the ground near one of the rear tires.”

Fuck man. I answered, “Secure the area. I’m getting crime scene on it.” I rubbed my temple. Guess, I wasn’t getting any sleep tonight. 

I stepped back in the conference room. I questioned, “Can you describe Ty Lee’s phone?” Meng sat up, “Oh yeah, I think it’s like an IPhone 11? She just got a Hello Kitty case for it.” Crap. I continued, “Do you have any contact information for her family?”

Suki produced an emergency contact form from her backpack. This girl was prepared and efficient. I spoke more so to Suki, “We found her car at the mall along with her phone. We didn’t find her at the scene.” I heard both girls gasp. I handed Suki a form and instructed her to formally file a missing person report. 

I could see Suki’s hands shake as she was trying to fill out the form. I leaned against the chair and told both girls, “Don’t let anyone touch any of her things physically or online. I’m hopeful that we’ll find her soon, but we need to keep everything just the way she left it OK?” Both girls nodded.

Suki handed me the completed form. She walked directly up to me, “Ty Lee Ping. Remember her name. Say it in your head until you find her. I’m not gonna let you forget about her.” I had no doubt in my mind that Suki would hold me to it. I pulled a business card from my pocket and handed it to her. 

I watched as the girls left the station and drove off. I called Sokka and Toph and told them to get their asses out of bed and to head to the crime scene. I filed the missing person’s report. Then I called the number listed on the form Suki had given me. 

The call went to voicemail and I listened to the recording, “Hi, This is Ty Lin Ping, I can’t make it to the phone, but leave a message or just text me, yeah just definitely text me.” I spoke and left a message, “Hi, This is Zuko Sozin, Chief of Police with the Ba Sing Se police department. This call is in reference to your sister Ty Lee Ping. Please return my call as soon as possible.” 

I grabbed my gear and got ready to head to the scene. I was interrupted as my phone started ringing. I recognized the woman’s voice on the other line as she spoke, “Hi, This is Ty Lin, you called about Ty Lee. Oh my god, did she get arrested? I bet she got arrested. Was she doing drugs?”

I cut off the woman’s babbling. “Ma’am, I’m calling because your sister is missing. We’ve found her car at her job, but we have not been able to locate her at this time.” The woman let out an “Oh.” Was she disappointed? What in the actual fuck? She spoke, “Listen, Ty Lee hasn’t talked to anyone in the family since she went away to school. Is there anything else I can help you with? Your voice sounds hot, I bet you’re hot.” 

I took a deep breath like Piando had coached me on. “Ma’am, I will call and update you shortly.” I clicked the end call button. I shook my head. That was one of the most messed up reactions I had ever heard. 

I hopped in my Tahoe and got my sirens going. The city was always busy, but it didn’t take me very long to get to the mall. I ducked around the crime scene tape and walked up to Sokka. He glanced at me, “This girl had 47 melted lip balms in her car. 47. Can you believe that?” I took a sip of my coffee instead of face palming like I wanted to. 

I glared at him, “Did you find any  _ actual _ evidence?” Toph walked up to us. She spoke, “Really the only suspicious item is the gun holster.” Sokka spoke up, “Well the phone is concerning. No one goes anywhere without their phone.” I nodded in agreement. 

I watched from a distance as Mai and the rest of the forensic team bagged up anything in the car. Toph elbowed me, “C’mon Chief. There’s nothing more for us to do right now. Let’s go home and get some sleep.”

I laid in bed, my mind trying desperately spinning about where Ty Lee could be. I repeated her name over and over. We were going to find her. We had to. I turned and glanced at the clock 3:57am. I stepped out of bed and threw a hoodie and my sneakers on. 

The cold December air blew in my face as soon as I stepped out onto the pavement. I stretched a bit and then started on my run. The dim streetlights lit my path. I ran my usual route from my house in the middle ring, out of the walls of the city. I liked this time, this quiet. 

There were a few houses on the country road outside of the city. My feet kept running. I was careful with my footing since it had snowed the night before and parts of the road had iced over. Something crunched under my foot that wasn’t snow. I glanced back and saw a pink and white bracelet. I shrugged it off and continued my run back to my home. 


	2. Chapter 2

I pulled up to the station as the night shift pulled in. The morning shift would be here soon. I walked up the steps of the station, the snow crunching under my boots, to see Suki leaned against the building. I nodded, “Mornin’.” She trailed behind me as I unlocked the front door. I turned the coffee pot on and said, “I take it Ty Lee didn’t come home yesterday.”

Her voice was hoarse, “She did not.” She paused biting her lip, “You don’t think she’s really missing, do you? People just don’t disappear...” I poured us each a cup. No, people usually didn’t just disappear, but how could I comfort her when I knew the homocide statistics for Ba Sing Se?

We walked into my office and even though we were both exhausted I had her tell me everything she could about Ty Lee- what her schedule was, who she hung out with, who she dated, her lack of familial connections. To Suki’s credit she never flinched. She answered each progressively invasive question as openly as she could. I made plans with her for a few detectives to stop by the sorority house later that day and then I sent her out. Hopefully she could get some sleep before her classes started. 

Knowing I should, but dreading it, I contacted the family. Granted it was super early in the morning, so I wasn’t too surprised to hear Ty Lin’s voice mail greeting. I left a message just asking her to call me back. Maybe by the time she actually contacted me I would have some good news to give her, instead of what I had now- which was nothing. Even though I got the impression that this lady could care less about her sister. 

I was rubbing my temple when Aang suddenly poked his head in my office startling me. He greeted too cheerily,”Mornin’ Chief Hotman!” I crossed my arms, “Anything useful come up last night?” Aang paused and then replied, “Define useful.” I brushed him off, “Get out of my office.” I followed him out and mentally prepared myself to deal with the press before the 7am news. 

I braced myself and stood on the steps of the police station to debrief the press. I gripped the podium and gave them the information I had- Ty Lee Ping, 21 years old, last seen fifteen hours ago. I knew this story was going to get a ton of traction. A pretty girl was missing for fuck’s sake. It would send the media into a frenzy. Hopefully, the attention would translate into someone actually finding her. 

Toph and Sokka finally dragged themselves into the station as the press conference wrapped up. I hauled them into the conference room so we could make a game plan. I filled them in on everything I learned from Suki. Sokka put the most relevant points on the white board. I glared at Toph as she put her boots on the table and criticized most of the ideas Sokka came up with it. We finally decided Sokka would take a few officers to the sorority house and do interviews with the girls and also go through Ty Lee’s things to find any leads. Toph and I would head to the mall, where Ty Lee had last been seen. 

I let out a breath. I felt slightly better now that we had a plan. I still had that nagging feeling gnawing at my stomach, but there was nothing I could do about it. I went to greet the morning shift. I stood in front of my officers, briefing them on their assignments for the day. They took it as any other day and it settled my nerves enough. It was just a missing girl. She hadn’t even been missing that long. I had dealt with worse before, but that those things didn’t leave a sinking feeling in my gut like this situation inexplicably did.

I corralled Toph to my Tahoe and hit the sirens. It wasn’t technically an emergency, but neither of us had the patience for Ba Sing Se traffic. We pulled into the mall seven minutes later and I parked obnoxiously up on the curb. 

My phone started buzzing. I recognized the number as Ty Lin’s. I hit the answer button on the Tahoe’s screen. A sultry voice responded, “Hi Officer. How are you?” I saw Toph about to speak, so I put my hand over her mouth. I cleared my throat, “Hi ma’am. I’m fine. I was just calling to check in with you regarding your sister.”

Toph bit my hand and I grimaced, but still kept my grip firm. Ty Lin’s voice dropped at the mention of her sister, “Oh,  _ her,”  _ It took all my effort not to snap at her. Maybe Ty Lin had done something to Ty Lee. This lady seriously seemed to hate her, her own sister. I would have Sokka add it to the idea board later. I took a deep breath and then responded, “Yes, ma’am. Your sister still has not been located at this time-” “Okay, well I have a hair appointment, so talk later, yeah?” 

And just like that the call was over. Toph wrestled out of my hand. I asked her, “That was weird right? That’s not a normal sibling relationship right?” She shrugged, “Fuck if I know. Did you have phone sex when you informed you yesterday. You two seemed real familiar-” I ignored her and hopped out of the truck. 

Toph, Sokka and I had all started at the BSS police department right out of academy, each of us working our way up to our current positions. Over the years, I had become more familiar with the mall than I wanted to be- from shoplifting to indecent exposure calls, the mall was one of our frequent stops. 

My boot tapped impatiently on the linoleum tile as we waited for our boba, which Toph had insisted we get. We finally grabbed our cups and headed towards the security office. We popped in through one of the doors that led into the interior hallways. 

Toph brusquely opened the door and the older security guard in the corner looked terrified. “Mornin’ Chief Hotman!” Teo greeted me. Toph sniggered and I seriously considered firing them both. Instead I asked, “How’s it going?” I stood behind Teo looking at the dozen or so screens in front of him. 

He answered, “I’m almost done copying all the video we need. She worked a four hour shift and then shopped for two, but I just copied everything from yesterday.” I nodded, “How long is it gonna take to go through.” He ran his hand through his messy hair, “Uh, well. There’s sixty four cameras- twenty four hours of footage from each cameras…”

Fuck. Toph made a chair appear and kicked her feet up on the desk, “Let’s just focus on the entry and exit points when she was actually here to start.” That sounded better. I added, “Focus on the store she was at too.” Teo still seemed overwhelmed. I pulled up my walkie, but Toph beat me to the punch. She hit the mall intercom button and said, “Haru and the Duke, paging Haru and the Duke, your father is waiting for you at the security office. Lost children, Haru and the Duke your father is waiting for you at security. I glared at her, “We’re supposed to be a little professional, you know.”

They showed up a few minutes later. I took a sip of boba, “Get anything from the store?” The Duke nodded, his too big police hat almost falling off his head, “Sure did, Chief. Uh, apparently there’s a group of guys that just leer at the Victoria’s secret. They watch the workers, the women shopping, they just stand across from it for hours on end.” Toph wrinkled her nose, “Gross.” 

Haru rubbed his boot on the floor, “Yeah, but the manager June confirmed that Ty Lee had plans to Christmas shop after work and she also confirmed that Ty Lee is always on time. Said she has too many commitments to just disappear.” I nodded, “Good job guys. Ru, help Teo out with going through all this stuff. The Duke, get those notes typed up asap and send them to me. Toph, let’s go see what’s up with these weirdos.” “Sir, yes sir,” the three of them answered, giving mocking salutes. I rolled my eyes and headed back out into the mall. 

Sure enough, when we got to the Victoria’s Secret, there was a group of dudes just leaning against the opposite wall. We were at the mall all the goddamn time. How had none of us noticed this? They started dispersing when they saw us approaching. I shoved my hands in my pockets, “We either do this here or at the station, up to you all.” They grumbled, but stayed where they were.

I let Toph take the lead, even though I didn’t have much of a choice. She gestured in their general direction, “So you fucktards just come here and perv on women while they shop?” One of the guys grunted, “Look lady, there’s no law that says we can’t stand here.” I pulled Ty lee’s picture out of my wallet, “You guys ever see her?”

They stared at the picture just a little too long. I stuffed it back into the safety of my wallet. The same guy answered, “So what if we have?” Toph chimed in, “You obviously haven’t been watching the news.” She pointed to a TV in a storefront that was running the story. I forgot how good her hearing was sometimes. She continued, “She's missing and you creeps seem like prime suspects, don’t cha?” The guy huffed, “You can’t arrest us.” She swung her handcuffs on her finger, “Nope, not yet, but might be a good idea to break up this creep fest.”

We turned and left. We didn’t exactly get anything helpful from that. 

How long had she been missing now? Nineteen hours. Fuck. 

We climbed in the truck and I called Jet. He sounded like he was half asleep when he answered, “Sup.” I rested my head against the headrest, “New assignment for you. At the mall there’s a group of guys that just kind of loiter across from Victoria’s secret. Go post up and see if you overhear anything about the girl. I’ll have The Duke send you everything we have on the case so far.” Jet just responded, “Over and out,” and the line went dead. Without me telling her, Toph sent a voice memo to The Duke asking him to catch Jet up on the case. 

I pulled off the curb, hit the sirens and started driving across town to BSSU to see what Sokka had found, if anything. The clock on the dashboard seemed to be mocking me as each minute went by, it reminded me that time was not on our side. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When Zuko is referring to the Tahoe- he's referring to the model of their large SUV. 
> 
> This was supposed to be more on the dramatic side, but I can't write Toph without making it funny.

**Author's Note:**

> Normal person, writes Christmas fluff. Me, writes Christmas thriller. 
> 
> *Shrugs*


End file.
